Ogbuku's Arrest Rumour: Handiwork of Fifth Columnist: Kpokpogri

 

Comrade Prince Kpokpogri who is the Chairman of the Anti Corruption and Integrity Forum, and publisher of Integrity Watchdog Magazine,  has called on the public to disregard the news that the Managing Director of NDDC, Samuel Ogbuku was arrested over failed plot to topple the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Kpokpogri alleged that the news was fake, speculative and a handiwork of the fifth columnist. 

In a press release  on Thursday and made available to newsmen, the publisher, stated that  he was speaking as a concerned citizen.

He decried the spate of falsehood being peddled by Nigerians without cross-checking or fact-checking information as a bad precedence.

Comrade Kpokpogri, however, maintained that Samuel Ogbuku being close to Timipre Sylva does not in any way present him as having a hand in the coup plot for which Timipre Sylva had been allegedly fingered. 

He added that the security agencies reserve the right to ask Timipre Sylva's friends questions after raiding his house in Abuja, but that should not in any way be misconstrued to mean that the NDDC helmsman was arrested in connection to any coup plot. 

The statement  reads:"When has being interrogated amount to being arrested in a sane environment where people do not read meanings into the professional routine job of security agencies? When has it become a crime to answer questions as a friend to a suspect undergoing investigation? 

 "Who is actually afraid of Samuel Ogbuku over the next Bayelsa State Governorship election that he has not even declared his intentions for?"

"Let it be noted that I am not speaking as a media aide or friend to Samuel Ogbuku. I am only speaking as a concerned citizen of Nigeria. My issue here basically, is the peddling of what may be  falsehood and capitalizing on a sad event at the national space to begin to denigrate and malign one of the most patriotic Nigerians and unarguably the best administrator Niger Deltans has ever had as MD of NDDC.

"Without mincing words, Samuel Ogbuku is the best thing  that has happened to Niger Delta in recent times. When you check the history of the Niger Delta Development Commission since inception, Samuel Ogbuku is the only MD that has carried the people along and spread contracts.  His performance is top-notch and achievements widely spread. 

"Nobody should begin to use the circumstances of an allegation against his former boss to want to stain him. So far, he has proven the integrity and transparency that were needed to run an organisation such as NDDC.

"On the alleged #45 billion traced to Timipre Sylva's account, If Timipre Sylva was allegedly paid as reported,  I think the Management and  Board of the NDDC acted in good faith without allegedly knowing his agenda. 

"He is a contractor to NDDC just like every other contractor working for the Commission. What he uses his money for, is strictly his own question to answer. 

"He handles the Shoreline Protection project for the NDDC from my understanding, and he was allegedly paid from the NDDC account. 

"The Commission is not administered by one person but a team that was constituted into a Management Board."